Changing House – (USA, 2009)

CHANGING HOUSE – Rusty and Chelsea are a transgender lesbian couple who devoted fifteen years to making their Brooklyn home a communal living space for transgender women in need. Their house served a vital and unique community role with its doors always open to newcomers. A crossroads for transgender civil rights organizers, it became home to Stonewall legend Sylvia Rivera in the last years of her life. The couple’s dream of a commune quickly met a complicated reality as it became unmanageable. Social workers referred more young transgender women to Rusty and Chelsea than they could accomodate, and eventually, the self-made family lost their „Ma” Sylvia. In this intimate film, Rusty, Chelsea, and long-time resident Cellia commemorate the house’s rich activist history, reflect on the joys andchallenges of communal living and discuss the continuing struggle of the transgender community with discrimination and homelessness.